One Pond With Three Names

One Pond With Three Names

You can tell how long a person has lived in Dunstable by how they refer to the pond in the center of town.  The ownership of the pond or its mill rights at some point became part of the estate of the large white house opposite the church. It was referred to as “Austin’s Pond” when the estate belonged to Calvin Austin (1908-1945) and later in the 1950’s when James Shaw purchased the home the name of the pond changed to “Shaw’s Pond”.  It is now known as Woodward’s Mills Pond, in honor of the industrious Woodward family who established a series of water powered businesses. These included a grist mill, an up and down plank sawing mill, a cooperage shop (barrel maker), a blacksmith shop, a wheelwright shop, a veterinarian practice (Doctor Davis of Doc Davis ice cream fame), an ice mining and storage operation and a couple of houses. All were located along road at the edge of the pond that bears the Woodward name and flows under Route 113 today.

Three of the original buildings are still occupied as homes (although one has been moved to Highland Street) and foundations of some of the mills can still be seen. Although the sawmill never did upgrade to the far more productive circular saw method, business must have been good as it was said that sawn lumber and trees awaiting processing were often stacked on both sides of Pleasant Street making wagon travel between Pepperell and Dunstable center next to impossible.

Before the advent of electric refrigeration, locally harvested ice was the primary way of keeping food fresh. The following information was taken from an advertisement for the Sargent Ice Company: 

(Evidently you were on your own in terms of refrigeration until June 2nd and by September things began to freeze up again.  It also appears that after four months, the supply of ice had melted to a point where premium prices could be charged.)